KLM Reviews 8,358

Terrible airline in terms of communication. Furthermore, their claim agenrs will outright lie and shift the blame to other airlines. They also misquote the law in order to avoid paying customer compensation. One of the worst airlines I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

Very poor customer service. The flight charges are so high and the quality of the service we get is no way close to the amount we pay. Do not get the flight booking details soon the amount gets debited. This has happened 4times now and then I would have to call customer service for which the wait time ses to be infinite. Even the services provided in flight is not so great. I traveled when I was pregnant and the I called for assistance almost 4times as I badly needed a water but they did not bother to respond. Finally a women who sat next to me went and got me the water bottle. Kindly either make online booking efficient or provide a right customer service.

We were notified our flight was cancelled on arrival at the check in desk. The check in staff where in a state of paralysis and incapable of communicating with passengers, which exasperated the situation. After an hour, a bad tempered KLM staff member, simply informed passengers to return in one hour for further information. Myself, husband and elderly mother where left for a further 4 hours in the airport terminal with no information on our flights back to the UK. Eventually after receiving information from airport staff, we joined 20 passengers who were left gathered around the check in desk and informed we would be placed in hotel accommodation for the evening. KLM staff where frantically arranging accommodation on mobile phones and scribbling hotel accommodation details on scraps of paper and handing them out to passengers. It resembled a bad lottery. We were chaperoned out of the building to the taxi zone and waited in the rain for a bus to arrive and dispatch the passengers to their allotted accommodation. We were subjected to a 1 hour bus ride around the suburbs of Rome. Passengers traveling alone were dropped off in derelict looking hotel located amongst suburban high-rise housing. Amongst the passengers where a number of elderly and single women, no safeguarding or care for their welfare was given consideration in placing them in these hotels alone. We arrived at the Parco Tirreno Residence on the outskirts of Rome city centre after 3 pm without any KLM staff in attendance. The hotel staff allotted rooms with the most elderly being placed on the top 7th floor. My mothers room was down a cold shabby corridor with stained carpets and pockmarked walls, the door lock was damaged and difficult to open. The room was scruffy and had a strong smell of questionable cooking oil from the kitchen area, mixed with stale tobacco and the overpowering air freshener trying to mask the horror. The room was unheated and cold, the bathroom lights did not work and it was unventilated with a strong smell of human sewage. All the switches in the accommodation were damaged, the bedding blankets where shabby and stained, and the room had no fire alarm or extinguishers. Our room was in a similar state of dilapidation and showed a complete lack of cleanliness & hygiene. At 4 o’clock a rushed pack lunch of French fries and pasta in foil trays was prepared by the staff at Parco Tirreno and left in a locked canteen, in accessible to us but having been given earlier to eat the meal in our rooms. There was no consideration for dietary consideration and the lunches where still sitting on a table in the canteen 12 hours later in the following morning. At 7:30pm an evening meal was prepared for the group of KLM passengers. The meal consisted of luke warm tinned pasta and a slice of bread. Again no consideration for dietary requirements, a number of the passengers did not attend the meal as they felt unsafe walking down to the canteen through the dingy, poorly lit corridors. The arrangements for transport back to Rome airport left my mother without any allocation for a taxi or bus service. Lack of trust in KLM to arrange any transport provision, we made our own arrangements for transport back to Fiumicino airport. I am appalled KLM placed its passengers in those locations without due care and attention. This happened in November 2025 and it took numerous emails to KLM to even get a very vague apology and that they would look into the matter, I requested to be updated. Since then, nothing. No fare paying passenger should have to be put up in such accommodation.

Booked an easy jet flight from Amsterdam to Manchester, cancelled due to a smattering for snow on jan 2nd. Put on a KLM flight the next day, cancelled, nothing, no contact, no reimbursement, no accommodation or food. As far as KLM know we're still there till this day. Booked another easy jet flight at my own expense, cancelled again, on to KLM next day, canceled again, on to another next day, cancelled again, all with no food, accommodation, contact, nothing, finally got home on the 9th of Jan, 8 days late, charged £50 by the carpark I've not had back. Even their "free phone" number which I was on for over 100 minutes cost me £200 an they didn't even answer! Luckily we had funds to book hotels and eat, if not we'd have slept on the airport floor for 8 days and had nothing to eat. This was 6 weeks ago and still £1800 down from the ordeal, not had a penny off them apart from a baggage charge which we should never of had to pay in the first place. I'd walk before I pay KLM again. Disgraceful.

I’m extremely disappointed with this airline’s customer service.
I booked a business flight from Brussels to San Francisco, and the flight itself was very pleasant. Unfortunately, the experience completely fell apart during the transfer when my luggage was lost.
Because of this, I had to spend nearly $400 on essential clothing just to get through my first days abroad. That would have been manageable if the airline had followed through with reimbursement.
It has now been several months. I submitted all required documents through their reimbursement process, waited a month, and then called multiple times for updates. Those calls alone cost me an additional $25 due to long waiting times. Each time I was told the reimbursement would arrive within a few weeks.
Two more months have passed since then, and I have received no payment, no notification, and no response.
Losing luggage is unfortunate, but the complete lack of follow-up and communication is unacceptable. Terrible customer service.

They made a real scam:
- You cannot end your check-in online due to “issues”. You must go to the check-in desk to get your seat.
- Once you go to the check-in they ask you to upgrade to business -> of course I refused.
- Then they weighted my small bag + my luggage both at same time and complained that it exceeded the maximum weight of 12kg. (it was 13kg)
- They offered me 69 euros upgrade business (with free weight luggages) or 70 euros for the luggage.

This was a real scam, I could have simply head to gates if I had my boarding pass and no one would have complained.

This is worse than a low cost company.

We reported missing baggage upon arrival in Costa Rica 9 feb. and after several days 2 out of 4 bags were delivered, which we appreciated.

However, there has been complete silence regarding the remaining 2 bags.

Our baggage status shows that the missing bags were located on February 10 and marked as “under delivery”, but since then there have been no updates, no delivery, and no contact from KLM.

We have not been contacted on any of the phone numbers or email addresses we provided, and we have been unable to reach KLM ourselves:
• WhatsApp and Messenger (waiting in queue for more than 24 hours)
• Local KLM phone number in Costa Rica
• Other available contact channels

At this point, the most frustrating part is the lack of communication. If the bags are located and under delivery, we urgently need to be informed about next steps and timing.

We hope KLM will reach out and help resolve the remaining part of this case.

I am extremely disappointed with my recent booking experience.

I purchased a multi-city trip via the KLM website for four passengers (outbound operated by KLM, return operated by Air France). We deliberately selected and paid for Economy Standard Plus fares specifically because they include Economy Comfort seats with extra legroom.

During the booking process, we were unable to complete payment or select seats online. Instead, we received an email instructing us to wait for a phone call. A KLM representative later contacted us and processed the payment. However, the representative was only able to assign seats for the KLM-operated flight and gave us a number to call for the return flight.

When we contacted KLM again to select seats for the return flight, we were told that according to their system, we had booked standard seats — not Economy Comfort.

This is unacceptable.

We clearly selected and paid for Economy Standard Plus fares. How is it possible that after payment, the booking reflects a different product? Customers should not have to fight to receive what they have already paid for.

At this point, we are still awaiting a clear explanation and correction of the booking.

Very disappointing experience so far.

Your airline company is completely a SHIT!!!! I can't believe how you are still operational.

Flight delayed by 5 hour, is okay, can happen.

Now.. I have been waiting a month trying to get into contact to get my money lawfully back. Since yesterday they closed my documents without question after they handed me a voucher… which I never asked for.

They do everything to make u give up and hope they won’t have to give you your money back.

Absolutely disgusting service from such a renowded flying company.

Won’t be flying with KLM again, along with my family & friends.

My 10 year old daughter travelled using the unaccompanied minor service. She lost her luggage at Schiphol children’s lounge whereby it was found later and they called to inform us but till today we have never gotten the luggage back. Zero responsibility and no support to help get back her luggage which was lost under KLM unaccompanied minor service care. Upset and disappointed!!!

They take months to get back to the customers regarding compensation for delayed luggage.And then they do not follow the montreal convention under which they are obligated to reimburse for items purchased even when reciepts were provided,and make up their own rules.

KLM has despicable customer service wait times! 1-2 hours on hold then the phone automatically hangs up after 1.30 hours then start over. I rather call Ryanair and easyJet. For a country who supposedly prides itself on service and quality; First they outsource to mostly incompetent people from “overseas”. I know they want to cut cost but also provide quality for what they allegedly stand for. They can blame weather and logistics but they charge me money for my flights straight away but make themselves unavailable to resolve any post booking issues. Well to be honest who knows if they resolve post booking issues because they are almost impossible to reach by phone and by social media even days either automated answers. Two hours on hold and phone automatically hangs up! Absolutely obnoxious should be illegal what they are NOT doing. Definitely not flying them again. Since years never a sneer before 20 min and never more than 2 hours because their system automatically disconnects calls longer than 2 hours which is funny because few calls are answered before that time frame. I’m sad to call it the Dutch carrier as it does not represent the Dutch at all. High prices and horrible service post booking

This is the 5th call to customer services this week. I’m still on hold as I type - it’s been over an hour with the 30 second repeating hold music driving me insane. I’m also on hold in a WhatsApp queue for KLM which is equally as useless.

Each call this week has given me a different and contradictory answer to the call before, even acknowledging that given they can see the notes on the database. My issue is still not resolved despite 3 promises of guaranteed communication ( from them to me) within 24 hours. Reading the other reviews, I have no idea how this airline survives - I will never book another flight with KLM… the quality of the brand is exposed in your time of need… and KLM just doesn’t show up. Most call handlers struggle with an acceptable level of English and the answers provided are disparate and filled with false promises. What is the CEO doing to reverse this cultural ineptitude throughout the customer services department?? Your disrespect and contempt of your customers is shocking. @marjanrintel I have connected with you on LinkedIn if you’d like to hear any direct feedback. You can find me through my reference ZGU7VY

They cancelled the flight because it will snow 1 cm in Amsterdam. It is close to impossible to actually find a human to talk too to get help. They are very mean and not service minded once you actually get a hold on them.
A plus is that they don't have many accidents and that makes them a safe airline to fly with and of course it feels safe to fly, but on the other hand it is hard to have accidents when they cancel the flights all the time.

They also refused to help book an earlier flight by another airline or give any compensation for that so I had to wait 30 hours to be able to come home.

Avoid if possible.

Very bad airline. Won’t be using them especially on the African routes such as Nigeria. They do not respect their customers and even food offers does not consider their clientele pallet in any way.

I never imagined I would be writing a 1-star review for KLM, but my recent experience has left me deeply disappointed.

My husband and I had booked what was meant to be a trip of a lifetime to Las Vegas. Due to the rapid decline of a close family member who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, we had to cancel one ticket and shorten the other to spend precious time with them. I clearly explained the situation and offered to provide medical evidence if required.

Although the customer service agent was polite, the conversation felt entirely scripted and devoid of empathy. I was told that exceptions only apply if the traveller themselves is hospitalised or in the event of a death. There was no flexibility, no goodwill gesture, and not even the option of travel credit.

It was incredibly upsetting to feel that policy mattered more than people. Families should not have to wait for a loved one to pass away before compassion is shown.

To make matters worse, KLM quoted EUR 1,495.64 per passenger to change one ticket to a one-way flight. Booking the exact same flight directly with Virgin Atlantic cost under GBP 500. The pricing difference was staggering.

At a time when we were dealing with emotional strain and difficult decisions, KLM offered no meaningful support — only rigid policies and excessive fees.

For a major international airline, this lack of compassion and flexibility is simply unacceptable.

The worst customer service agents - lack of knowledge and resolution or understanding of issues - they always can’t hear you but they have selective hearing as to what they respond to or not. Also, very long ridiculous waiting times on the phone lines just to speak to an uninformed agents.

They also lack the basic manners of customer service interaction.

We have requested a refund on our tickets on 13/12/2025 till today 12/02/2026 we are getting nowhere.

They just tell you to wait for 48 hours and then they send you a ridiculous email to say your refund request has been approved which is no news as it is a refundable ticket anyways and the refund is been requested and approved on the 13th of December.

I can’t even trust flying with them if we have not had to cancel our tickets. Never getting a pennie out of us again and if there was less than a star I would have clicked that instead of one star. Cautious people!

Also when you ask how to file a complaint they direct you to the website . On top of that, the customer service agent told me today she is not allowed to send me an email to confirm what was discussed on the phone and she can’t pass me through to someone who knows but happily will arrange a manager call just to let this drag on for another 6 months. Worst ever!

Wouldn’t use this company again if they gave me a free ticket!

I have spent 5 months trying to claim compensation for a missed connection due to them delaying a flight. I have chased up each week to be told there is a back log because they are so busy!

I escalated to case to the aviation authority and surprise surprise they respond straight away to say I am due a claim. It has been another 3 weeks since then and they still haven’t paid me!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU CAN!!!!!

Hi

I honestly like KLM for time management & flying hundreds of White Friends to Uganda. Seeing the crew in their perfect organisation is the other.

I joyously enjoy serving KLM. Thanks.

Best wishes
John Francis Ekwaro
Passenger Service Intern @ EBB
MENZIES AVIATION